The Kooks At the Paramount

The Kooks
The Paramount
Huntington, NY
October 9, 2014

Formed in 2004 in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2004, the Kooks are: Luke Pritchard on vocals and guitar, guitarist Hugh Harris, bassist Pete Denton and drummer Alexis Nunez. Its swirling jangle-pop music is very much influenced by the bands of the British Invasion as well as by the music of the Clash, Madness, David Bowie, Beck, the Strokes and the Libertines.

Following yeoman-like sets laid down by two separate opening acts, the light dimmed and the Kooks strode confidently onto the stage. Melding a number of musical genres including rock, pop, reggae, ska and funk, frontman Pritchard had the audience under his spell from the moment the opening chords of "Around Town" rang throughout Huntington, NY's the Paramount. Pritchard's danced, strutted and juked across around the stage in a manner not unlike Mick Jagger...and the audience ate it up.

Surprisingly, the audience was filled with not just members of Gens X and Y but with quite a few younger baby boomers. This multi-generational audience came for and received a show of exactly what they expected—an evening of fun '60s-flavored rock and pop based on jangly, tasty guitar licks reminiscent of the early Kinks and the new wave/modern rock movement of the late '70s and early '80s.

In addition to tracks from its first two Virgin Records albums Inside In/Inside Out (2006) and Konk (2008), the band played songs from its 2014 release, Listen (Virgin/EMI). The night's set included tour de force versions of "Ooh La" featuring Pritchard on acoustic guitar, a sing-a-long version of "She Moves In Her Own Way," "Eddie's Gun," "Seaside" and "Sofa Song" from Inside In/Inside Out. was represented when Pritchard introduced one of the songs by saying, "We're going to go back in time, back to the second album. This is called "Sway." The band also played "See the Sun" and "Always Where I Need to Be" from its sophomore release. The rest of the set featured the recently released CD: "Forgive & Forget," "Westside," "It Was London," the Rolling Stonesy "Bad Habit" (with audience participation on the backing "ooh" vocals) and "Down" with its "Down, Down, Diggity Down" lyric all made welcome appearances. The audience cheered and crowded the stage for the entire evening. When the band left the stage following "Forgive & Forget," the cheering reached a fever pitch as the faithful waited for its heroes to return to the stage for the encores.

The encores were a fast-paced trio of career-spanning tunes: "See Me Now" from Listen, "Junk of The Heart (Happy)" from the album of the 2011 Virgin Records album of the same name and "Naive" from Inside In/Inside Out.

A Kooks concert is much more than "just" a musical performance. It's an experience. Many fans and critics alike have stated that the Kooks are a must-see. They are. The crowd spent the evening dancing, bopping, bouncing and singing along at the top of its lungs to the band's songs (old and new). With this eclectic mix of old and new, the Kooks proved that it is a band to be reckoned with. In a perfect world the Kooks would be headlining stadiums tours and festivals, they're that talented.

Photo Credit: Christine Connallon (view more concert photos)
[Additional article contributions by Christine Connallon].